1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an arm restraint, and more particularly to a light weight, durable, comfortable, and disposable arm restraint for infants.
2. The Prior Art
Pediatricians and hospital personnel have long been confronted with the problem of restricting an infant's hands following surgery or during an intravenous feeding. Infants, by their natural curious nature, always try to pull at intravenous feedings tubes or medical dressings, thereby drastically reducing their effectiveness and requiring further medical attention.
Various prior attempts have been made to solve this problem, but no truly successful remedies have heretofore emerged.
One such attempt included merely placing a sock over the infant's hands and arms. This, however, is not truly effective and desirable because the sock is easily removed and because the infant is unable to use its hands for permissible activity while the sock is on the arm.
A second attempt included the use of splints and gause wrapping to keep the elbow straight, but this technique is both time consuming to the pediatrician and relatively uncomfortable to the young patient.
Another attempt involves the use of two semi-cylindrical medical metals frames which are placed around the infant's arm and taped in place to keep the elbow straight. Likewise, this particular effort has proved to be undesirable because (1) the end of the metal frames irritate the infant's axilla region, (2) the frames are heavy, particularly to the young patient, and (3) this device is relatively expensive.
In short, no suitable prior art device restricts the movement of an infant's elbow while also permitting free use of the infant's hands.